The Valley of the Sun from the Library of Congress

HooverDam · #1 Posted **Jul 10, 2008, 6:47 PM**

So I'm not sure how many people are aware of this site:

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html

Its the American Memory program by the Library of Congress. Its an incredible resource for finding old photos of nearly everything. Being a native Phoenician, thats obviously the area that caught my interest, so here's a compilation of stuff I found interesting from there:

Welcome to Phoenix (1940)

A house at 725 E. Washington

A house 'way up north' on 3502 N Central, from approx 1940.

Also from 1940, a home at 3320 N Central

The beautiful Victorian Rosen House, which still stands in Heritage Square (not its original location).

The long gone Ford Hotel on Washington and 2nd Ave

Grand Canal, facing Hayden Butte (Tempe), circa 1916

Taking a dip in the Grand Canal. Date unknown (I'd guess 20s from the bathing suits).

Anderson House. 505 N 7th St, from 1940

Evans house on Washington St and 11th Ave from 1940. I believe this building still stands

Sweatnan House. Washington St and 18th Ave from approx 1940

The Stroud Building, 33 N Central Ave, it no longer stands

The Phoenix Herald building, which stood where the Stroud Building would one day stand. This photo from the early 1880s

Downtown Phoenix circa 1914. Note the huge awnings over West facing buildings.

Some idiot (circa 1870s) tries to ford the Salt River near the Tempe Butte. He should've hired the Indian, its only $5.

Haydens Fairy helps people across the Salt River in Tempe

View of the Ash Ave bridge crossing the Salt River in 1912

"A Typical View of Washington St, Phoenix, AZ" from 1899 or 1900

Livestock Parade (Im always down for a good livestock parade) at the fair circa 1908 (click for big)

Territorial Capitol building, 1908 (click for big)

In 1903 the Valley floor was covered with citrus groves

Photos of the Phoenix Indian School:

Panorama of the Indian School. January 1908 (click for big)

View of the school from the SW

View from SE of Indian Elementary School

Memorial to Native Americans who fought in American wars

Indian School Memorial Hall

Interior, Memorial Hall

West Facade of the Indian School gym

Welp, thats about it. You should look up your hometown too, that site has lots of cool stuff.

HX_Guy · #2 Posted **Jul 11, 2008, 5:19 AM**

Amazing photos!

I love the way cities used to be built...such attention to detail, tree lined streets, the palm trees...what happened? It seems no one gives a crap anymore, it's all about turning out neighborhoods/houses like they are coming off an assembly line, no passion behind it whatsoever.

HX_Guy · #3 Posted **Jul 11, 2008, 5:27 AM**

Here is another great shot...

Azndragon837 · #4 Posted **Jul 11, 2008, 5:51 AM**

HooverDam....nice find. Now the Libary of Congress webpage is in my favorites! Man, just imagine if half those buildings were still in existence today. Just imagining. :-)

HX Guy...is that a photo of Palm Lane or somewhere nearby?

-Andrew

tempedude · #5 Posted **Jul 11, 2008, 3:52 PM**

Nice collection of old photos.

HX, in the picture you posted, do you know what neighborhood that is? From the looks of it, I'd want to say it is the Roosevelt district. Not sure though, Phoenix probably had many neighborhoods like that then, with big graceful palms lining the streets.

edit: oops...I just noticed that I basically asked the same question Andrew did. I'll let my question stand though without deleting it. My bad, sorry.

admdavid · #6 Posted **Jul 11, 2008, 3:53 PM**

I loved the entrance leading to the Capitol. Wouldn't it have been nice if they had maintained that kind of feel instead of bastardizing it with the two legislature buildings and the Executive Tower. Ugh!

HooverDam · #7 Posted **Jul 11, 2008, 4:05 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by admdavid

I loved the entrance leading to the Capitol. Wouldn't it have been nice if they had maintained that kind of feel instead of bastardizing it with the two legislature buildings and the Executive Tower. Ugh!

You'll be happy to know that there's some talk about demolishing the legislature buildings. Will Bruder and other local architects/designers who are kicking around plans for the 2012 Centennial want to know them down because they're too small anyhow. The idea is to move them to the West side of the Capitol, back where there's currently surface parking. The structures would be replaced with a grassy, open plaza, so hooray!

I HATE that Executive Tower, good lord is that thing terrible. I don't so much mind its very existence, I like its linear shape rising behind the horizontal shape of the historic capitol. However, its pinkish/brown solid concrete brutalist style is just horrendous. If they could maybe reclad the skin of the structure (perhaps with some sort of corrugated copper) I think it would help a lot.

loftlovr · #8 Posted **Jul 11, 2008, 7:52 PM**

Wow- good find Hoover!!
Thanks for posting.

plinko · #9 Posted **Jul 11, 2008, 11:21 PM**

Does anybody know when the Ash Avenue Bridge was demolished [washed away?] ??

Just curious.

Great find on the photos. I'll have to do some digging on there as well!

NIXPHX77 · #10 Posted **Jul 27, 2008, 11:11 PM**

great find - thanks for posting!

fyi - Rosson House is in its original location. All of the houses that make
up Heritage Sq. are original to the site, and that's a big part of why it
became Heritage Sq (was a Phx project for the US Bicentennial.)
only one or 2 carriage houses were moved to that square block.

also, the Evans House does still stand.

i believe the Ash ave bridge was demolished in the '80s or very early 90s,
sadly. it was narrow, so while it may not have worked for cars,
it would have been great to have for peds. and bikes.